Tag: firstfridays

I’m still working on my confidence to write longer posts. So for now, they might be limited to lists and photos.

With that aside, I want to briefly talk about the little things. They have always mattered to me and I’m very aware of them. Living abroad has a lot of challenges but here are some little things that make me happy and grateful on almost a daily basis.

Such as..

1. The constant, incredible sunrises and sunsets.
2. My free time. I have a lot of valuable time to myself that I cherish to be able to reflect and remain productive and creative
3. Finding Scooby-Doo or Looney-Toons on Thai cable TV and watching it anyway despite not understanding the words

Thai Looney-Tunes

4. When another teacher gives me candy because they bought a bunch for their students
5. Having my neighbours ask me to sit down and hang out with them. It’s not always easy to connect with people with such a heavy language barrier.

The neighbours feeidng me! 🙂

6. Finding food under 100 baht that I actually want to eat. I’m still adapting to Thai food and western food is triple in price

Spicy fried chicken. Delicious and 30 baht. SCORE!

7. Finding mango and sticky rice from a street vendor
8. Devouring such mango and sticky rice
9. Having some other, usually Thai person, cut the mango for me, as I am truly inept with a sharp knife
10. Coming home once a week to my apartment having been cleaned by the landlady
11. Noticing that my own cleaning is paying off, as there are less ants crawling around my apartment. (They used to be in my bed).
12. Being told last minute that it’s a long weekend. This happens quite often, there are many holidays in Thailand.

Long weekend adventures in Loei with some new friends

13. Seeing my students in a grocery store and having them say hi to me excitedly
14. Checking myself for strange rashes and realising there are none! (I had a skin infection for over a month, it was f*cking terrible)
15. Feeling like a champ when I do something new in class and it works. There are just as many if not more times where the opposite happens!
16. Kids hugging me to the point of almost suffocation. 🙂

What little things brighten your day?

P.s -> Random titbit:

My friends that were born and raised in Thailand told me that when they were children, there was a story that parents and teachers would tell them about the moon. The story was about a rabbit because in Thailand, the dark spots that are seen on the moon look like a rabbit. The neat part of this is that the moon in Canada, where I’m from, is seen from a different angle, so the moon has never had a rabbit on it for me!

1. I enjoy the simplicity of my mornings. I get up at 6:00 am. I slowly wake up and make my coffee to the birds chirping and the roosters..roosting? I watch the sun rise over the mountains as I get ready for my work day, or any other day.

2. I love zippin’ around town on my motorbike. Despite the safety risks, I find it to be a very efficient and fast way to travel around my city and it’s cheap on gas. For longer trips, there’s always the bus.

3. The bus system! I can book a ticket whenever I want to go wherever I want in Thailand for a pretty reasonable price. The bus seats are comfortable, makes stops every few hours, and they give you snacks. Oh, and everyone is really quiet as well, which I appreciate.

4. In the specific area that I’m living in, Phetchabun, yes, it gets very hot, but the mornings are quite cool. I know that it’s probably tough on my immune system to constantly adjust to temperatures, but I enjoy waking up to cool air and easing my way into a scorching heat by the afternoon. By nightfall it’s cool again.

5. The cheap beer. Thai beer is also unregulated so sometimes you get a little more tipsy than anticipated.

6. The quietness of my location. There isn’t much hustle or bustle here aside from the odd long weekend traffic or festival and I’m very much okay with that.

7. That 99% of the time, Thai people are quite friendly and very helpful.

8. The opportunity to always be immersed in a new culture and language that I have to adapt to. I love the learning process.

9. Mountains, waterfalls and National Parks are everywhere and not too touristy.

10. There are very few foreigners here, as the city I live in is quite low-key.

I was born in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia and spent 10 years in Alberta, Canada. I have very strong ties to the prairies, mountains and ocean.

About 8 months ago I left a relationship, quit my job, and decided to go overseas to teach English in Thailand. It has truly been the adventure and challenge of a lifetime and I can only imagine what the future holds for me.

I’ve been wanting to start a blog for a long time but never got around to it. Being abroad has taught me a lot about myself and how to take initiative. So this is me, taking initiative with a blog!

This blog is about travel but it’s also simply about my life and the observations I make on a weekly basis. Food, philanthropy, culture, language and art are all things I’m passionate about and plan to write about here. I hope you enjoy being part of the journey, and thanks for stopping by :).